Radio Astronomy Observatory: Understanding the Invisible Universe

1. What is the… National Radio Astronomy Observatory?

3. NRAO Founded in 1956 State-of-the-art radio telescope facilities Open to all astronomers regardless of affiliation The NRAO is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the terms of a cooperative agreement between the NSF and Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), a science management corporation.

4. Radio Astronomy Radio wavelength observations address fundamental questions about our Universe: • When and how did galaxies form in the early Universe? • How do supermassive black holes form? • How are stars and planets born? Radio astronomy is essential to understanding what celestial objects are made of.

5. Radio Astronomy is the study of the invisible universe We see the world around us because our eyes detect visible light, a type of electromagnetic radiation. Objects on Earth and in space also emit other types of electromagnetic radiation that cannot be seen by the human eye. The full range of radiation emitted by an object is called its electromagnetic spectrum.

6. The Electromagnetic Spectrum Radiation is energy that travels and spreads out. Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is a phenomenon that takes the form of self-propagating waves consisting of electric and magnetic field components. The EM spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of EM radiation. The EM spectrum includes radio waves and visible light.

7. The Electromagnetic Spectrum All parts of the EM spectrum are fundamentally the same things: A stream of photons each traveling in a wave-like pattern moving at the speed of light. Photons are mass-less particles containing energy. The only difference between the types of EM radiation is the amount of that energy.

8. The Electromagnetic Spectrum EM Radiation Types Longer waves Shorter waves Lower energy Higher energy

9. In more detail… Terahertz radiation

10. NRAO Facilities

11. GBT Facilities of the NRAO? Green Bank, West Virginia World’s most sensitive single-dish radio telescope. World's largest land-based movable structure.

12. VLA Facilities of the NRAO? Socorro, New Mexico Featured in these films: • Carl Sagan’s Cosmos • 2010 • The Arrival • Contact • Independence Day • Terminator Salvation An array of 27 radio telescopes that is among the most productive research tools in astronomy.

13. VLBA Facilities of the NRAO? Very Long Baseline Array, North America World's largest dedicated, full-time astronomical instrument Resolution 50 times that of the Hubble Space Telescope

14. ALMA Facilities of the NRAO? Atacama desert, northern Chile Under construction in partnership with Europe, Japan, and Chile

16. Facilities of the NRAO? NRAO Headquarters, Charlottesville, Virginia You are here The NRAO Library Edgemont Road… and the NRAO Technology Center (NTC)

17. Designing for radio waves

18. Radio waves Long waves Low energy

19. Capturing sufficient low energy radio waves for observation requires massive instruments. MASSIVE

20. Nice shadow Green Bank Interferometer

24. Each arm is 13 miles long

25. Our arrays see the universe in ways not possible with optical instruments.

26. Optical view of M51 courtesy of NOAO Composite images from the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey and the VLA

27. Engineers design, build, and maintain our instruments. For instance, new state-of-the-art electronics and software will completely transform the VLA into the EVLA.

28. The NRAO Library Staff: 3 professional librarians, 1 temp Facilities: 1 site from 3 Collections: Physical, electronic, and web-based resources Activities: Research assistance, acquisitions, data curation, statistics

29. Who does the NRAO Library support? Staff scientists and astronomers Staff engineers Business and administration staff who do the rest of the work Other observatories and institutions

30. NRAO Library Projects NRAOPapers Publications digitization Pictures ISSTT Proceedings Electronic access NRAO Theses Physical space

31. Physical Tour